6 Biggest Takeaways From Green Day’s ‘Rolling Stone’ Cover Story

It’s officially one month until Green Day release their 12th studio album Revolution Radio, so get ready for the band to make the rounds to the major media outlets.

First up in the big PR push is Rolling Stone and their cover story on the band for their August 14th issue. Lots of was revealed in the feature piece, but here’s the six biggest takeaways.

Like most bands, they lost their way (and admit it)

After the release of 2009’s 21st Century Breakdown, Billie Joe Armstrong said, “We lost a little bit of our goofiness, the part of Green Day that I always liked.”

He’s not wrong, and hopefully, there will be some of that goofiness back for the new record Revolution Radio.

Revolution Radio is sort of a reset button

It’s literally just a collection of rock songs, not a concept album. As much as we dug the trio’s foray into the “rock opera,” it’s good that Green Day are getting back to basics. Mike Dirnt likened the songwriting process to “the same way as if we were practicing for Kerplunk,” Green Day’s 1992 sophomore album.

Well, we definitely like the sound of that.

About that infamous 2012 iHeartRadio festival breakdown…

In hindsight, the band said they really shouldn’t have been at the pop-dominated, Top 40 event, with Armstrong saying, “Once a punk, always a punk,” and that he doesn’t remember what he even said that night. (If he really cares to see that hot mess again, he can do the noble thing and Google himself.)

Armstrong’s drinking had been going on for a long time

Michael Mayer, the director of the Broadway production of American Idiot, said Armstrong was “the most functioning addict I’ve ever seen in my life.” (Yikes!)

Green Day’s record label didn’t know they were making an album

The band notified Warner Bros. Records of their work when they were close to wrapping. On top of that, Green Day produced Revolution Radio themselves and only had one staff member, engineer Chris Dugan who’s worked with the band since 2002.

Armstrong’s thoughts on bands who bring in hit-maker producers

It’s very chic to bring in certain producers to help put together that lead single, but Armstrong isn’t a fan of that practice and said, “We were rejecting the thought of having to work with other people to get a hit. We don’t need to do that. And most other bands don’t either. They just do it because they’re pussies!”

Now, Billie…tell us how you really feel.

Erica Banas is a rock/classic rock reporter that loves the smell of old vinyl in the morning.